Biz & IT —

Get Windows 7 support via Twitter’s @MicrosoftHelps

Adding to the hundreds of Twitter accounts it already has, Microsoft has …

Microsoft today launched a new Twitter account, @MicrosoftHelps, adding to the couple hundred it already has. This one is apparently specifically for providing real-time Windows 7 information and support to customers around the world, but only in English. Although it's only for Windows 7 now, judging by the name of the account we can expect Microsoft to expand its scope at some point.

To use this service, you'll need a Twitter account and make sure to add @MicrosoftHelps when tweeting your question or complaint. Microsoft says it will respond to direct tweets but it will also try to monitor tweets in the wild that describe Windows 7 problems and try to suggest helpful resources. The team behind the Twitter account consists of "experienced social media agents with extensive knowledge about support resources to get answers to customers questions," a Microsoft spokesperson told Ars.

Today's announcement comes hot on the heels (19 hours, to be exact) of the following tweet from Brandon LeBlanc, the face of the Windows Blog: "Does Microsoft have too many Twitter accounts? Would love to hear people's thoughts." We can answer that yes, it does, and yes, it should try to cut down, or at the very least, maintain a website that clearly lists them all.

In September 2009, Microsoft announced a seven-week long Windows 7 sweepstakes on Twitter where all prizes given away are somehow related to the number seven. Microsoft has been massively ramping up its marketing and general activity on Twitter ever since July 2009, when the official @Microsoft account finally became active (hundreds of various Microsoft Twitter accounts have been tweeting for much longer).

Since this is a Twitter-related post, we'd also like to shamelessly note that you can follow this blog via the @OneMicrosoftWay account.